The Fire That Burned Too Deep
by forgetmenotjimmy
Summary: What Dwight hadn't realised was that the fuel can he'd thrown into the bin had unbalanced it…the paper bin toppled over…this definitely wasn't a drill anymore.
1. Prologue

Prologue

He assured the cameras that it was a drill as he lit a cig, threw it and some lighter fluid into a small waste paper basket and strolled out of the little cupboard without even looking back. He was about to be a hero.

The unusual calm of the office was broken as soon as Dwight's impatient prompts had drawn attention to the smoke. Everyone stood up. Michael led the crowd, shouting stiffly, fighting the rising panic. The mastermind making knowing suggestions and grinning as the worry grew with each door remaining firmly closed. The handles, the handles! The fear reached fever pitch when, after scrambling to all of the exits and finding them jammed; there was no exit.

Everyone scattered. Michael raced to his office to bash repeatedly on his window, every time more desperately. Oscar leapt into the air vents, agile and desperate, and Angela ran after her fallen cat screaming. Kevin smashed the vending machine in a crazed panic, grabbing sweets manically. Jim fumbles to release the copier before he and Andy crashed it into the fire escape again and again. Oscar's legs reappeared suddenly and flailed from the vent forcing Creed to turn and scream.

A klaxon pierced the chaos. Everyone quietened, and stopped and turned to a Dwight standing above them, aloft through the thickening smoke. Bright flames flickered up the door behind him as he opened his mouth to announce that it had all been a drill. Kelly saw them and screamed causing the fire safety expert to turn and almost jump off the table.

What Dwight hadn't realised was that the fuel can he'd thrown into the bin had unbalanced it. With the shutting of the door, the paper bin had toppled over and the carpet, soaking with Meredith's secret boozing session, had caught alight.

This definitely wasn't a drill anymore.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Dwight choked on smoke as he stumbled down from the table and edged away from the roaring light, growing with each second. After a full five seconds he snapped out of horror and charged to the front door with Jim and Pam in quick pursuit. You just had to push it with your shoulder in a particular–

He joined his hands together and jerked his shoulder professionally against a pressure point on the door, his mouth curved downwards in that concentrated expression he drew up for times of leadership. Nothing happened. He did it again, and again. Eyes narrowed. Nothing.

He turned slowly to see strained faces, intense eyes; he could just hear their panicked thoughts as he looked blank. Tension stretching like bow strings from his pelvis up into his chest. It was only when they suddenly withdrew into the thickening fog that he called after them urgently.

"Everybody stay low!"

Lost in the chaos, Kevin stumbled over chairs or his feet or something as a figure fell in front of him. A scream erupted out from his raw throat as a body writhed on the ground. The raided sweets leapt out of his arms and showered the coughing shape of Oscar. As quickly as he could, the small time looter bent and helped up the would-be ninja, both muttering under their short breaths.

A strangled cry for help came from Michael's office, him leaning as close to the broken glass as was possible, voice breaking with fear. He ran around, mouth gaping grotesquely as he ran to lock his door and hid under his desk, pulling his knees up and shaking uncontrollably. Across the office, through the growing mist, Angela was trying to coax her distressed cat from under her desk, panic tightening her already high-pitched voice, all the shouting and the smell of smoke driving it wild.

Pam was watching the men's attempts at breaking the fire escape door with the copier, chest heaving with the weight of fear, when she saw a figure running past. Forcing her eyes to clear, she recognised the running woman and choked a call.

"No Kelly not that way!" Her concern transitioned to someone else and she made to move to the break room but strangled cheers pulled her away; the heaviness lightened as she saw people running through the now open door. Jim called to her from behind several tussling figures, her heart soaring to him. Forgetting all else, she took one hopeful stride before the faint whimper of her boss pulled her away. She knew instinctively that he was hiding in his office and cursed him, but… He was a child, just a scared little boy. A protectiveness she never knew she had swelled in her as she turned and ran back into the smoke.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Suits and shirts ran ahead of him, he leapt down three steps at a time. Chaos in his head fading with the heat, he turned to check that Pam was-

No one was there. The stairwell empty. He scanned his mind; he knew for sure that she hadn't been ahead of him. Panting, he waited impatiently for a few breaths. Stomach churning, he started up the stairs, face set. He would find her.

Smoke. It had already thickened so much since he'd escaped; it invaded every inch of his body, coiling round his exposed neck and arms, pressing onto his shirt and pants, smothering his face. Stumbling almost he made for the break room, passing some mumbling he recognised as Angela and Dwight, with a vague idea that Pam had gone back for someone going that way driving him with more speed and determination he had ever known.

Behind him the cat was finally gathered up and Dwight guided his owner hastily to the exit as he heard a muffled yell from the rear and his mind lit up, Michael. Blinking furiously, he reached his boss' office to see someone shouting in vain through the door.

Already, figures were emerging into the car park, panting and wheezing in the cold sunlight. Kevin lowered down a wincing Oscar, his own knees shaking. The air was so biting and with no coats, people began to shiver as other members of the building were gathering, cell phones ringing and the chattering of teeth as an undertone to the growing worry. Andy turned back to the entrance and looked relieved as Angela struggled out with her cat bundled in her arms but as everyone glanced among their group they began to question her. All she could do was shiver and shake her head, biting her lip as she realised that Dwight hadn't been right behind her.

"Michael!" Coughing choked the word and the stronger of the two began to ram against the door whilst calling to his master. Feeling the time slip away, Pam looked around desperately and tapped Dwight on the shoulder.

"Dwight, don't you have an axe or-" He was running to his desk even before she had finished, mouth twisting as he grappled with something on the bottom of his desk. Swiftly he ran back, crouching almost comically, a small double-headed axe. Even through the gravity of the situation, Pam still made a mental note to laugh with Jim about that later. But then, standing back so the object of their ridicule could save a life, she felt ashamed and confused and scared. Screwing her eyes shut and choking again, she prayed that this nightmare would end. Finally, after a few hits, the door hinges gave and the Action Man managed to knock it down completely.

The two loyal employees ran through the doorway as the fire, having ripped through the conference room, started to eat the dividing wall.

Meanwhile, Jim had rushed into the annex and managed to make out a shape lying on the floor. Pure fear filled him as he leapt down and reached out to turn the figure over, his mind's spin slowing a little as he could now see that it was two bodies.

"Kelly?" Only noticing his presence at this, Kelly ripped her lips off Ryan and looked up.

"Jim! We're going to die!" Looking down briefly at the slighter man's eyes he almost felt bemused at their bizarre – but then again not so strange – reaction to the fire.

"No the fire escape's open-" With frantic and brutal force, Ryan pushed the other two over in his scramble for the door. Jim was unbalanced in his crouching position and fell awkwardly, twisting his ankle with a startled yelp. Kelly cried after her fast disappearing love but found a desperate man clutching her hand.

"Kelly! Have you seen Pam?" For a heartbeat, the emotional girl was lost before she shook her head sadly, in that moment fully understanding the look in Jim's eyes. With more fortitude than ever, he let her go and both of them ran into the blindness towards their goals.

A worried Pam and a heaving Dwight were trying to sooth the near unconscious Michael; Pam was speaking softly, rubbing his arm as they both eased him from out under the desk. Scooping up his weeping boss, Dwight tensed and managed to stride – a little wobbly –out of the room. Pam swooned as she rose and staggered, supporting herself on the desk; feeling like her chest was melting and cracking at the same time. The grey world turned black as she fell.

Jim lost sight of Kelly quickly, his ankle screaming with every limping step. Eventually he made it to the main room, anger rising up in him, trying to blind his pain. He heard wood creaking and crackling from behind him and realised that the wall next to the break room was alight. He hurried forward, calling for Pam wildly. Suddenly a massive, bulky shape loomed out of the dark; Jim's squinting eyes transforming it into a demon until he recognised one of the two heads.

"Dwight! Where's Pam? Have you seen her?" Struggling now, Dwight shouted.

"Yeah, she's right behind me, hurry and get out!" The sound of his enemy shuffling away faded into the raw growl of the growing flames. Everywhere was dry and grey; he knew he was a few paces away from the walls of Michael's office but he couldn't even see an outline of them, just towering flames. Walking forwards, arms outstretched, shaking, he called.

"Pam!" He croaked, desperation weakening his already dry throat. "Pam…" It was hell, he was in hell. The heat was incredible. There was nothing but the smothering of the heat and the stabbing of his ankle. Electric dread constricting his chest, his eyes watering and mind unravelling he called again. Within the smoke came a weak reply.

"Jim… I'm here"


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Pam!" He'd heard her weak call and leaping into Michael's office he saw her scrabbling to gain purchase on the desk. Rushing as fast his injury would allow, Jim tried not to breathe in the blackening air and as he bent down to pick her up, he became very aware of the jumping flames not a foot away from them. Wasting no time or breath on speaking, he helped her up but before they could move a ceiling tile fell, hitting Jim's head and slicing into his shoulder. He swayed under the impact, Pam falling slightly too. Recovering as quickly as he could, Jim somehow managed to hold onto her and half-carrying her, they staggered out of the hellish office.

Finally in the stairwell, Jim was astonished that the intense heat had followed them as Pam looked up and tried to scream. Jim's head was so heavy, why was Pam hitting his shoulder? It hurt. He saw his burning shirt at the same time that Pam had managed to remove her sweater. He panicked, trying to recoil from his scorching shoulder, but she lunged forward, bringing her make-shift fire blanket onto the growing flames. A powerful unsteadiness gripped him as they both panted heavily but he gritted his teeth. He nodded to indicate that the fire was out and, now slightly more awake in the less smoky stairwell she supported his almost dead leg as they tried to go down the stairs. At the second step he stumbled and she lost grip on the handrail.

After depositing Michael onto the floor, among the other blackened and shaken workers, Dwight straightened, coughing slightly and ignoring Andy's enthusiastic praise. Vaguely he heard an irate Kelly shouting wheezily at a cowering Ryan and a quiet Angela stroking her cat near him, not speaking, just looking. He glanced around the group and frowned, Meredith suddenly vocalising his worry.

"Hey where are Jim and Pam?" Everyone stopped as Kelly spoke up.

"Didn't he find her?" Pushing away the voices that grew louder and louder around him, he gathered his strength and ran back into the burning building, the voices calling after him in vain.

After bounding up two flights of stairs, Dwight wiped his brow and stopped briefly to catch his breath. He heard a faint call, this spurred him on and as he climbed up further he could recognise Jim's voice.

"I'm coming Jim!" Heart fluttering, he turned a corner and saw Jim on the flight above, holding Pam's limp body and trying unsuccessfully to lower her down. As Dwight shouted instructions he analysed the situation: Jim had blood trickling down his forehead, his right shoulder was blackened with possible burn damage; he was coughing heavily and winced whenever weight was put on his right ankle. Pam was waking slightly to Dwight's shouts, her eyes were unfocused and her movements slow, he needed to get her out immediately. He knelt beside them and Jim croaked.

"T…ta… take Pam." Unable to shout anymore, Dwight nodded wordlessly and, cradling her body in his arms, he carefully made his way down the stairs. Turning, he saw Jim urging him on, trying to stand; the image hindered him for only a second as, though he had been torn between them, he knew that it would be easier to get Pam to safety before going back for Jim. Arms screaming he placed each foot cautiously on each step, knowing a fall could be potentially fatal when he heard heavy boots and shouts from below. Suddenly he was confronted by several firemen. One of them took Pam immediately as Dwight croaked.

"Up, another floor, on the stairwell." Another two pushed past him as the smoke and the heavy lifting finally getting to him, a fire-fighter guided him back into the sunlight. Considering the damage, he felt his stomach drop with guilt before he passed out.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The flames were dying down now, most of the building blackened and empty looking, the windows blown out. One of the cameramen panned around the gathered crowd, feeling their shock as well. What was even worse than seeing that humble office destroyed and some of the employees rushed to hospital, was knowing how and why it was started. Ever since the crew had evacuated with the majority of the staff, they had exchanged almost guilty glances, wondering whether to say anything, knowing that if the producers decided to use the footage, it would all come out eventually. They shivered with the rest of the gathered people, taping conversations and getting shots of the fire and emergency services. Following Ashley, the interviewer's lead, the camera man just decided to keep his peace until it came up. He panned around the crowd again, Andy trying to talk to Angela, Phyllis being comforted by Bob with the other employees on cells or huddled together, watching the last few flames die. The cameraman coughed a little himself as the boom man nodded to go closer to a few employees who were talking quietly. Sneakily, the two edged closer to Kevin, Meredith and Phyllis, closing in on their conspiratorial conversation.

"No way was that an accident." Kevin's low voice rumbled and though he'd said it with his usual, often misplaced, confidence Phyllis looked less sure.

"It could have been an accident…" Everyone tried to think of a possible cause. "The microwave again?" Furtive glances were directed towards the ex-temp, still getting an earful from Kelly. Kevin grinned at the memory. At that moment Creed sidled up, ready to peddle his own conspiracy.

"If you want to know what really happened then you should check under everyone's shoes. The clues are all in the soles." No one really responded to this, so there were just a few nods and grumbles before Phyllis' soft question silenced them all.

"Who would start a fire here?" As one, they saw and then shied away from the camera.

At the hospital, the other cameraman-boom man team sat in the waiting room with the director, their equipment around them on the ground or on their laps, shuffling uncomfortably. The director hung up from an emergency meeting of the producers where they'd decided on how far the contract with the paper company went in terms of filming this disaster. The advice had been to get as much as possible and then they would decide later what they could use. The director sighed and looked down at her notes.

Stanley had suffered a heart attack in the car park but was now in the clear and had swiftly been given pamphlets and medication and advice; his wife had turned up earlier and was with him now. Fortunately, Oscar had only sprained his ankle in the fall but had also gained some nasty scratches; his ankle had been strapped and he was being visited by his 'roommate' as Dwight had once assumed. After filming some of their exchange and his prompt departure, and attempting to get a bit of Stanley footage, the film crew visited Michael, instantly regretting it.

The dramatic manager had had a lucky escape, only suffering minor damage to his lungs from the massive amount of smoke inhalation he had suffered, but he was still managing to cough copiously and pull off the 'almost dead' look. The three workers who knew what had really happened to delay his escape were unconscious, so no one could actually discredit his heroic account of kicking down doors and "punching" the fire; but still, the crew had been uncomfortably trying to extradite themselves when a nurse had come to shoo them out.

Pam had been exposed longest in the hellish fire cage that Michael's office had become and she still hadn't woken yet, a breath mask obscuring most of her face, a green line pulsing on the machines next to her. The doctors had examined her head injury but had reached no conclusions as to how bad it was; they couldn't know until she woke up and didn't feel at all confident that they could tell the cameras the full diagnosis anyway, her family on their way. The crew had only taken some distant shots of her through the blinds of her room and hadn't gone into Jim's either, who was also still unconscious. Though he hadn't suffered any lasting damage to his shoulder or ankle, he had also sustained a nasty head injury and had been wearing a breath mask earlier until, to Dwight's painfully visible relief, it had been deemed unnecessary a little while later.

Dwight had been discharged pretty quickly after he had woken and had been treated for smoke inhalation and fatigue but he hadn't left the hospital, sitting mutely at Michael's side and generally avoiding the camera crew. His tired face set and his whole body rigid all through his boss' loud complaints. The director made sure that the camera man had a close up of his eyes, dry yet piercing the wall he'd been staring at for over an hour.

The next day and Michael was ringing everyone to get them to visit before he was kicked out; this was much harder to do because the company had given everyone the week off to recover until a suitable replacement office was found. Dwight was on a mission to get some balloons and flowers which was taking a ridiculously long time. The director had learned on their arrival that Jim had woken during the night but hadn't been coherent when Mark, his flatmate, had visited that morning. They also managed to get a few shots of Pam's mother sitting in the waiting room alongside Mose, of all people.

The crew were just taking a coffee break after a major Michael tantrum when the boom guy spotted a sneaky Dwight slink into someone's room. Putting down his coffee, grabbing his boom and sound equipment and he dragged a sighing cameraman over to capture whatever was going on. Peering through the blinds and zooming in, they could see Dwight hovering over a sleeping Jim, eyes brimming. The boom guy cursed that he hadn't re-attached Dwight's microphone.


	6. Chapter 5

Hey, sorry for the wait, essays and exams had to be done! Anyway, one thing, I couldn't remember the name of that portable thing next to patient's beds that they can lean on, pushing it around next to them…You all know, anyway, decided on "IV drip line" so, that's what that is…

:D

Chapter 5

"Jim." His voice was gentle, fragile almost. "I…" Glancing quickly behind him he saw the chair and sat, awkwardly. He looked down, taking in the tubes, machines, bandages and that still body. Memories walked lazily in front his eyes, laughing and jeering; arguments and showdowns, snipes and cruel jokes. None of it could bring him from this terrifying brink. Finally, he gulped, licked his lips and said in his quietest, most sincere voice.

"I'm sorry." He turned his head away, unable to look anymore, bile rising from his stomach. The room was suddenly hot and he absently tugged at his collar but the heat still rose up his neck. He felt faint and feverish, pain in his chest and his upper arms firing up again. He tried to shake it all off but then something snapped.

"Goddammit Jim! Wake up!" In pure frustration he grabbed the patient's shoulders and shook them vigorously, his vision temporarily impaired as he finally cried. Feeling something wet on his left palm, he took it away from the patient's shoulder and saw blood on it. It wasn't much, but it was bright and burning; panicking, he frantically tried to wipe it off. But it clung to his skin, paler, but still there, still staining his hand, his soul. He must have shouted, or the shaking had done its work, as his eyes flickered to his victim and saw that he had woken.

"Dwight?" The question had been rasped and it looked like it had been painful to ask. He couldn't, he couldn't-

Wiping his face in a manner very similar to his habitual business way, the Assistant to the Manager sniffed once before leaving the room and finally, the hospital.

"Mr Halpert this really isn't wise." The young doctor scratched her head worriedly, mouth open slightly as her patient brushed off her concern, trying to make it to another patient's room. He was leaning a bit too heavily on the IV drip line. "Mr Halpert, please, I must insist." She couldn't manage to get in front of him before he reached the door, mouth thin from concentration. "You'll ruin your foot, not to mention aggravate-" But he was already through the door of the other patient's room and all she could do was follow him as he stumbled along to the chair next to the bed. "Mr Halpert please!" On the verge of calling for a nurse, she saw him lower himself wincingly into the chair, let go of the drip line and the look on his face as he gazed down at the other patient made his doctor freeze. She'd seen that look so many times, and sighing, she satisfied herself that he was sitting down at least. As she quietly turned to leave, she found a camera in her face, frowning she ushered it out of the room and shut the door.

The other crew, after a day off, came in to film the official fire investigation get under way, again, all of the crew nervous. Surely they'd be questioned as well if the investigators do decide to take statements from everyone. Only they'd know the real reason, and wouldn't they be partly responsible as well? It was with relief that they heard from the director that no one had died, but still, the damage was bad enough already.

Both Michael and Dwight were there, hampering the investigation; Dwight trying to lead them off the scent and Michael just being Michael – except worse, as only Phyllis and Bob had visited him the day before. The Chief Investigator was wary about letting the crew and the two eager employees into the building but eventually let them in, with some ground rules. These rules were instantly abandoned as Michael broke down and distracted the whole team with his impressively loud wailing. The cameraman was unsure as to follow Dwight too closely, knowing exactly what the bespeckled alley cat would attempt and not sure as to whether that should be caught on tape. Eventually, the cameraman only managed to shoot Dwight coming out of the little cupboard space, something bulky in his inner jacket pocket. The boom man had been hovering over Michael, getting every muttered word, distracting the cameraman deliberately, he knew where he stood.

Suddenly there was a shout from one of the investigators, the cameraman swung round to see him in the cupboard space. After a quick shot of Dwight's almost green face, he ran forward and seeing the discovery, jerked back. When the boom man had caught up, he was spurred on in spite of his colleague's horrified face and caught the investigator's hushed whispers.

"In the panelling, see where it's burnt away…" Michael pushed forward and screamed.

"Oh my God! It's a body!"


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Hey." The director was walking up to them swiftly, the boom man and camera man sighed, there was that expression they knew well; something's happening. Answering their questioning looks she said quickly. "Toby's here," Getting up, despite not thinking he'd been needed, the boom man followed his colleague to Pam's room to film Toby loitering outside, obviously put off by Jim's presence. At the sight of the crew, he backed off a little, flowers limp in his hand; the boom man was right, the shy man didn't say anything. He walked away and left the flowers at reception. Without knowing it, he walked passed Pam's sister entering the building, looking harassed and worried. The camera man shared a look with the boom man, would they ever get a break? The director snapped at them to think of the money involved but none of them were fooled by her shallow words; they all knew that she really wanted to see this to the end. As they both did as well. With Pam still unconscious, Jim waiting silently, with painful patience, Michael in shock and Dwight missing, they couldn't leave now, they couldn't leave their almost-friends.

Flashing and babble gathered outside the office park and hospital. News crews and independent journalists from all over the city came to take pictures of the outside, interview passers-by and make wild guesses to pour coal on the rampant flames. It was the biggest news story of the year, a new thread to a growing fear-mongering tale and, standing outside the building at noon, Channel 5 hit the jackpot. Michael Scott had just recovered from shock and had arrived at the site to tell the gruesome tale.

Stiff. Stiffness, it was everywhere. Her whole body. Crawling into consciousness, she tried to stretch a little, shifting her weight to the right. _Ouch! Owww… Head…Throbbing…Oww!_

"Pam." Hmm? What was that? Parting her dry lips and dragging her eyelids slightly ajar, she tried to focus on the thin voice whispering to her. "Pam, you're awake." Happiness was there, but struggling through fatigue. Was that… was that Jim? She opened her eyes fully and forced them to concentrate on the fuzzy figu-

"Juuhh" Her throat constricted angrily and she winced, speaking was hard. Oww. Head hurts. Sitting up a little, she tried to move her right hand and winced sharply. Her tendons were on fire! She stared at it in shock, it…she couldn't…oh!

"Sshh…" Looking up from her bandaged hand, she could see him, not clearly, but she would know that blurred hair and those deep eyes anywhere, no matter what state she was in. _Wait…where…?_ "Don't try to talk, it's okay. I'm here." She noticed then that something had her left hand, stroking it. Inwardly smiling, she closed her eyes let herself relax. In the quiet dark she could hear a distant beeping and muffled sounds of people moving and talking; through it all his calming words soothed her. Sinking back further, she felt vaguely another hand resting on her cheek, big and soft and...Peace.

The boom man sat on the bench watching his colleague film Pam's sister enter the room and greet a weary Jim, they embraced and then Jim's doctor came in, looking as if she would take no prisoners. But in the end he came quietly, knowing his sleeping love was in safe hands and perhaps now feeling as tired as he looked. The boom man watched this all unfold, knowing that the company would have wanted some dialogue but the director had told her two colleagues to not capture sound. Just witnessing these distressing, personal moments were enough, you didn't need to hear their broken voices as well. The camera man shot a few minutes of the sister's visit before joining his friend on the bench. He shrugged at the question.

"Nothing much, Pam woke up." The boom man raised his eyebrows and then sighed in relief. The camera man went on. "Only for a few minutes, then she went back to sleep. Should've seen the look on his face…" They went silent for a bit, letting the sounds and movements around them roll through them; both thinking about sleep.

"Do they know?" The camera man looked up from his thoughts and then shook his head slightly.

"He's been in there with her since before the story broke and I don't think he had his phone on him…" Pausing, he looked at Jim's room. "I hope they don't find out, at least for a while. It's horrible." The boom man nodded gently, feeling a little sick thinking about it.

"Would not like to have been Terry and Gerald" They both snorted a little. Terry and Gerald were the other camera man and boom man team, they'd been the ones to have to capture it. Or try to… the investigators had made it very difficult.

"So what does this mean? The fire and everything… I mean, about, about…" The cameraman looked worried, he felt more ill at ease with it all than the boom man, who shrugged.

"Hopefully they blame it on the killer."


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"The latest victim of the Scranton Strangler has been discovered hidden in the wall of the office of this paper company after a furious fire ripped through the building. The body has been identified as Katy Moore, 28, who was last seen a week ago leaving a party in the early evening. Ms Moore was strangled to death before being "mummified" and stuffed into the dry wall of the office. Suspicion now falls on all those with access to the building including delivery workers, cleaners and the office workers themselves. With this latest gruesome discovery, the Police say that the list of suspects has been greatly narrowed and hopefully, the Strangler will finally be caught."

The Police called everyone into the station. Everyone. Even though most of the employees of Dunder Mifflin were completely innocent there was still a load of interviews and paperwork to do, everything hindered by Michael's hysterics.

"I'm innocent!" He cried, squirming away from the carefully approaching officers, and ignoring their attempts to convince him that no one was trying to 'take him down', as he kept on shouting whilst running, hands in the air, through the station. The camera crew accompanying the workers in the Police Station had no trouble keeping up with the running man but were not allowed in the interviews. Only Stanley had been given a pardon not to turn up, though he still was scheduled to make an official statement later, so there were a lot of staff members to get through. After Michael had calmed down, the director nodded to the team and they packed away thankfully, racing to the door.

After their interviews, Kelly dragged a reluctant Ryan to visit Jim and Pam, though Pam was still unconscious, so they deposited their flowers on her bedside table and had an awkward conversation with the very ill-looking Jim. Ryan was still in trouble with Kelly for his cowardice and felt uncomfortable around Jim, for their history, and Pam, ever since his botched attempt to ask her out. He sat quietly in the corner trying to read the Scranton Daily as Kelly suddenly remembered the biggest news of all and began screeching, itching to shake a half-asleep Jim but just managing to restrain herself.

"Jim, Jim, Jim! The Strangler! It was the Strangler!"

"What?" He squinted his eyes at the harsh lights, head pounding and heavy, her words battering his frayed senses. He couldn't have been in a worse state to try and tolerate Kelly but he was too tired to think of something, anything, to make her go away. Anyway, she had calmed a little as she began to explain. The cameraman outside zoomed in on Jim's face, the boom man hovering next to him, listening to the audio from Kelly's microphone.

"There was a body in the office!" Ignoring Jim's slow reaction, Kelly pouted slightly as she tried to remember more before snapping at her jumpy boyfriend. "I can't remember who it was…a woman…erm… Ryan!" The camera snapped to the hunched figure in the corner as he looked up from the paper and chipped in quickly.

"A…Katy Moore I think." That woke Jim fully; he sat up straight, mind racing. The camera went back to Jim, his face frozen as he spoke haltingly.

"K-Katy?" He motioned to Ryan who handed over the paper, tight-lipped, but obliging as he was curious to Jim's connection to whomever…

"Katy!" Kelly screamed as she realised the same time as Jim confirmed it. "Purse girl Katy?"

"I…I've got to go," he rose, one hand still clutching the paper, the other running through his hair as he staggered out. He barely heard Kelly's confused voice as he rushed to his room to find his cell. With the little phone in his hand, he paused. He'd only met Katy's mother once, by accident, they'd run into her whilst picking up some things at the store. From what he remembered, she was a small and gentle woman with a kindly face. It had been a long time since he'd dated the murdered woman- He cut himself off, shivering at the thought. Eyes squeezing shut he breathed deeply. God, it was horrible. He sat on his bed and stared at his cell for a bit longer before he began to dial.

Dwight received a distressed call from Angela late that afternoon, the last time he'd seen her she had seemed normal so her hysterical tone was alarming to say the least.

"Wait, slow down Angela, what's happened?" He heard only sobbing for a few more moments before she managed to choke out.

"Bandit's sick!" A strong breeze blew against him, making her next words distort slightly. "The vet said, he said that he inhaled too much sm-smoke and… and they've got him on…on medication but – oh D!" At a complete loss at what to say and do, Dwight just stood in the middle of his beet field, drowning in the guilt welling up inside him.

When Jim re-entered Pam's room, he saw that Kelly and Ryan had gone, sighing, he was startled as Pam spoke.

"What happened? I heard yelling and then… was Kelly here?"

"Oh, it's just… I'll tell you later." Satisfied, or just too weak to insist, she leant back even further into the pillows, smiling a little at Jim's hand on her head, gentle strokes soothing the tension bunched up in the muscles in her entire body. "How are you feeling?" She opened one eye sceptically and although he knew he was being chastened, he was relieved that she was able to joke.

"Bad." He nodded slowly, rubbing his head tiredly. Looking up and noticing her unspoken question, he spoke automatically.

"I'm fine." Even not at her sharpest she could still straight through him. Seeing steel in her eyes he sighed again. "Alright, so I feel like I've been locked in a room with Dwight for three days straight." Pam winced playfully.

"Oh no! Three days huh? They must have sealed the windows." He laughed softly.

"Yeah, no escape!" The laughing stopped abruptly as at the same moment they remembered. The suffocating heat, the smoke, flames. Jim looked down at the bed and murmured incoherently. She stiffened suddenly, reluctantly explaining at Jim's look.

"My right hand, it just feels dead." They both stared at it and it twitched, as if self-conscious. Her brow twisting as she gazed down on it, Pam continued. "Well, not dead but…dying." Disturbed by this, Jim wondered aloud if she'd mentioned it to her doctor. She nodded and shrugged. "They're running tests." Trying to lift the dark mood that threatened to descend, Jim tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey I'm sorry about your doctor, I requested House but he was busy telling Michael to grow a pair." Chuckling she exclaimed.

"Oh God can you imagine!" They laughed for a little bit longer, too tired to come up with any other jokes. So they just sat for a while in silence, Jim holding Pam's left hand, sitting side on and leaning his head on her shoulder. Eventually, Jim felt Pam fall asleep and he smiled a little. He figured that he must have dozed a little too because suddenly his name was being called softly and he opened his eyes to see Pam's mother standing next to him a kindly look on her face. Gently releasing a still-sleeping Pam's hand, he got up wincingly, rolling his shoulders and head, easing the tension in his limbs. He gladly retired to his own room and slept.

The camera man yawned. It was much later and he thought he would be able to go home soon when something else happened. Jim had been receiving another lecture from his doctor about resting more when Pam's mom came in to see him. The doctor had sighed, wagging her finger once more before leaving Jim instantly feeling sick at the pained look on the mother's face. She sat on the edge of his bed and he waited for her to speak, his churning stomach bubbling nervously.

"The doctor just came in to…to update us and…" She paused, sighing, a small tear teetering on the rim of her left eye. Jim looked on, sitting upright in bed, brow creasing further with every second of silence. Finally, she continued. "Her right hand, it was crushed when she fell on it in the stairwell and, the muscles aren't… aren't working properly, they aren't… Oh I don't know the language but basically she's not got 'full function' back." Jim could do nothing but murmur, his face barely expressing all the horror churning away inside as Pam's mom went on voicing her concern. "What if she never regains 'full function', we all know how much she loves her art… It's so hard on her, after everything that's happened recently, now this?" Tentatively, he took her hand and squeezed it, their eyes meeting, trying to comfort the other as her breakdown forced his own tears to form. They sat softly shaking for such a long time that the camera man gave up seeing if anything else would be said, he switched off the camera, pulling it off his shoulder carefully and gratefully. Trying to focus on his physical relief and not linger on the emotional turmoil boiling in front of him. Suddenly the boom man was at his shoulder, indicating for him to come outside. In the chilly early evening, the whole documentary team was gathered.

The hospital cameraman knew instantly that something was wrong, extremely wrong. The director looked at the assembled crew and spoke in an ominous tone.

"The Police want to interview _us_." The boom man who had seen the body was expecting it, but even so felt a little rush of fear, of hope before... "All of us. Everyone."


End file.
